A Hankering for Tea
by Amelia Jean Mannequin
Summary: As Nine watches Rose sleep, all he can see is the inevitable end. For Ten, all he can see is the beginning.


**Author's Note: My first try at Who…review, please?**

**Disclaimer: Not mine. **

A Hankering for Tea

I gazed at her sleeping face, wholly captivated by its utter calmness. Never before while she was awake had her face looked this way. There had always been a subtle layer of stress present, just beneath the surface. On occasion, I could even imagine I could hear it, her constant worried thoughts for her mum, for Mickey, and for _me_.

It is something about fully matured humans I could never understand. They care too much about the _little_ things, never focusing on the imminent possibility of universal destruction.

And perhaps…that is because it has always been _my_ job.

Now the children, they made sense to me. So carefree and innocent, like all humans should be. As my lovely Rose slept, it was easy to imagine her as a child. Her wide smile as she hopped scotch with the other kids glowed through my mind like a beacon, so beautifully and fantastically _human_. She would most certainly ignore the blue box on the sidewalk, disregarding the alien staring her in the face with peaceful oblivion.

I never told her what I had long suspected, so I spoke to the closed eyes.

"Almost everyone sees me at one point in their life, Rose. If they only took the time to look…"

She continued to sleep on, and only the TARDIS heard me.

It was strange to think I must have encountered her in the past. Maybe not even her, but certainly traces of her DNA. A grandmother. A great-great uncle. A fourth cousin, three times removed. Somewhere in the past, and maybe not my past but certainly hers, I crossed paths with a portion of her biological material. I had witnessed the faintest beginnings of this remarkable person in front of me.

"But Rose Tyler, where is your future?"

I couldn't whisper this, but I practically shouted it, as I jumped up in agitation. Every particle of this form was filled with agitation, with the knowledge that _I was the Time Lord of Death. _She was the only living thing that seemed to alleviate some of that pain.

While pacing back and forth, I cursed as she woke. I didn't mean for her to see me like this, not angry, and not mere moments after reflecting on her beauty.

"Doctor…?"

"Where are you in the future, Rose Tyler?"

"What?"

I stopped, turning away from her.

"Why aren't you in the future? I haven't looked, Rose, but I can tell that you aren't there. I can_ feel_ it. You aren't going to return to your timeline, are you? We both know it, we both can feel it. Why don't you go _back_?"

She rose and approached me slowly, with no question of why I had been watching her sleep.

"Because I stay with you forever?"

I turned slightly, giving her only a sliver of my face as I speak.

"That's impossible. You know it is."

"You know what I meant," she snapped angrily, and I began to regret waking her. "When I say 'forever' I mean my forever, as long as I can possibly be with you. I cannot, for the life of me, _Doctor_, see why that isn't enough for you."

"Rose, wait," I whispered softly, turning fully.

"It's quite all right, Doctor, I realized long ago that a nine-hundred-year-old being is going to outlive me."

Her back now turned, she walked away with a huff.

In a flash of blue I'd stolen her life, I knew it. She could never forget any more than I could, I just had to live with it_ longer_.

"Nine hundred years of time and space, Rose Tyler," I whispered to the empty room, "and I've never met a human disorder more crippling than being 'in love.' And just imagine," I chuckled, "all of those people only have one heart."

I hurried off to make tea for an apology. If there was one thing Jackie Tyler had taught me, it was tea.

**~doctor who~doctor who~doctor who~**

"Rose Tyler."

I spoke her name, not to start a conversation, as she was sleeping quite peacefully, but simply to test out the syllables, the group of sounds dear Jackie had assembled to call this creature by.

I had decided early on that I quite liked the way these syllables sounded on my new tongue.

"What a beautiful name it is," I continued with a grin.

I knew she would awake at some point during my musings, but she rarely remembered these sleepy conversations.

And honestly, this human needed more sleep than any other creature I'd ever met. I had long thought her body would start naturally producing more adrenaline to keep her awake longer, what with all the running for our lives, but it appeared not.

"Rose Tyler, I have to admit, I feel sort of giddy."

If she wasn't awake already, she would be soon. For some inexplicable reason, my voice in this form always woke her up, no matter how silent the whisper. It scared me, and it made me absolutely _giddy_.

"You know what, Rose Tyler? I imagine it's your _fault_. I don't suppose you quite remember, but one of the last things I did in my last form was related to you. I took the time vortex from you. And, if you don't recall, I did so by _kissing_ you. Can you imagine that? I could have found any way to take it, but I chose to do so through petty human contact.

"It was rather fantastic, I'll admit."

Her large eyes opened in a snap, but they were cloudy. She wouldn't remember the conversation.

"Well, I suppose I'm rather rambling now. But, just shooting hypotheses here, I'm thinking that situation may have affected my regeneration. Just think, my last personality was somewhat…_broken_. More coarse than usual, and certainly in pain. But then a certain Rose came into my life, and she was _fantastic_. And right before I regenerated, I kissed her. She was rather on my mind during the change. So I suspect thoughts of her are somewhat fused to this form. Crazy, isn't?"

She blinked, barely awake.

"Yes, I am rambling, Rose. And I'm rambling about you, and you're hardly awake to hear it. Here I thought you'd be thrilled."

Blink.

"Well, be thankful I'm not a weeping angel," I said somewhat awkwardly, realizing the enormity of what I had just said.

I stood as her eyes blinked again, staying closed longer. She was nodding off again.

"Oh, and Rose Tyler?"

She was definitely asleep again. I spoke anyways, unable to resist.

"I'd be happy to spend the rest of your forever with you."

Tea. I definitely had a hankering for tea.


End file.
